Sunday, May 31, 2009

What a wonderful time we had in NYC! I absolutely love that place! There is never enough time to see everything! We started our trip off on May 19th we left Illinois and headed to White Plains NY which is where we stayed. We spent the night in Columbus OH and then headed to rest of the way on the 20th. The trip started out a little rough- I picked Bradyn up from daycare and for the first 2 hours of the trip he was extremely fussy. I thought boy this is going to be a long trip! However, after that he was fine. Not sure what that was all about.

We arrived safely in NY that evening and went to dinner. On Thursday, we went and did some sightseeing. Bob had never been to NYC. We took the train into the city and went to the Empire State Building. What a beautiful day it was to go there. There was not a cloud in the sky and the view was awesome. We bought a bus tour package on one of those double decker buses so we rode that around the city and got to see where a lot of stars live- including Jeff Gordon!! We spent some time in central park just walking around and enjoying the nice weather. Bob's parents arrived this day also so we met up with them when we got back to our hotel.

Bradyn was happy to see Bama and Papa!

On Friday, we didn't have much time to do anything because wedding rehearsal started at 2. So we decided to go to the mall and walk around. Then Bob went to the rehearsal and we ate lunch and did a little more shopping. Then Bob's parents took me to the rehearsal and they babysat Bradyn for us. Bob and I went to the rehearsal dinner at the Boathouse Restaurant in central park. What a beautiful evening it was overlooking the water. It was a neat place. We rode with another couple that was in the wedding party. We had a nice evening and it was only the 4th time that we have been out by ourselves. However, the trip back was not fun. The Indian priests and their wives lost their car in the middle of NYC. Yep that's right. We all packed into a minivan and drove around central park for a hour looking for their car at 10:30 at night. NOT FUN! We did eventually find it and headed back to the botanical gardens to pick up our car.

Saturday was the wedding ceremonies.They were at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. It was a once in a lifetime experience. The morning ceremony was an Indian ceremony. Very neat to see. Then we had Indian food for lunch (the first for me0 it was very yummy!) then we went back to our hotel room to relax, shower and change clothes and Bradyn took a nap. Bob stayed with the wedding party to get pics taken. Then we went back to the gardens for the evening ceremony which was to be outside but they were calling for a chance of rain so they moved it indoors. Both ceremonies were beautiful and the reception was fun. The food at the evening reception was unbelievable. Bradyn was a real trooper all day. Several people commented on how he was an ANGEL! He was awake until about 11:30pm and then crashed. We got back to our room around 1am.

Sunday we would have liked to get and early start but we were exhausted from the night before so we slept in. We took the train into the city again and went to Ground Zero, Times Square and several other places. Ground zero is something to see. The pics on TV don't really show how big of an area was affected. It was really heart wrenching to see. There was a really nice museum there and a church that you could walk through that housed all the volunteers. Almost 8 years later it still brings tears to my eyes to think of everything that happened that day.

On Monday, we took the train into the city and got brave and rode the subway all day long. That is the way to go! We went to the Statue of Liberty and back to Ground zero because we had missed a few things there the day before. We went to central park to relax a little and Bradyn burned some energy off there. We went back to times square and ate dinner at Planet Hollywood. We really put some miles on this day!

Tuesday, we headed home. We spent the night in PA and got to visit with my parents, grandma, sister and Bob's sister and family. It was a short visit but we are glad we got to see everyone. We headed home on Wednesday. Bradyn did great on the he trip home. He was so tired he slept almost half the trip! He said he was going home to see"B, Belle (our cats) and my toys!" The kid went through toy withdrawal!

I took Thursday off to get caught up on laundry and get Bradyn back into his routine and Bob went to work. Back to work for me on Friday- UGH! We have just been taking it easy this weekend.

I have lots of pics to post - will probably do several posts to get them all up! Have a great week!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Wow, this past week went fast! Sometimes there just isn't enough time in a day!! Sunday, Bob put Bradyn's new toddler bed together and Bradyn was very excited to sleep in his new "big boy bed." He did great Sunday and Monday and it has gone down hill since!! He has been waking up in the middle of the night screaming "my mommy, my mommy" over and over again at the top of his lungs! When I go in his room his is standing at the doorway and refuses to get back in his bed. So when it 2 am I will do just about anything to get my sleep! We have been sleeping on the floor! I will sometimes sneak back to my bed after he falls asleep but it is getting old very quickly! Bob went in one night and Bradyn wanted only mommy. One night I let him cry for 45 minutes and it didn't stop until I went in his room. So if any of you mom's have ANY suggestions for getting over this please let me know.

Wednesday was his last swim class for this session. He has really been doing well. We signed him up for the next session which starts in June. Bradyn and I had a lot of errands to do on Wednesday- we were in the car more than we were at home. Of course it had to be the day that it was POURING down rain all day! Not fun. We did our grocery shopping today.

We are leaving for vacation on Tuesday- YEAH! We are headed to NY for a wedding and sightseeing. I am so excited. We are driving so that will be a challenge for Bradyn . It's a 15 hour drive that we will split in to 2 days. Bob is in the wedding- his college roommate is getting married. Should be fun. I will post when we get back.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I am having a great Mother's day. We went to church this morning and then did some errands. Bob is going to cook me dinner tonight!

Yesterday we went to Chicago for the day and took Bradyn to see "When Elmo grows up" What a great show it was and Bradyn LOVED it. The music was great. The look on his face when Elmo came out was priceless! We went out to dinner afterwards at one of my favorite places- OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE-YUMMY! We came home then. It was a really fun day.

This past week has been very busy. Bob and I have a busy days at work. Bradyn has done well at daycare this week- thank goodness. However, he does have a little bit of a runny nose so I'm not sure what's going on. He may be getting some teeth. I sure hope he doesn't get infected ears again.

Bradyn had swim lessons on Wednesday. He did really well. He is actually starting to kick his feet in the water. This week is his last lesson but I think we are going to sign him up again for the next session because he has done so well. There is a 2 week break in between classes before the next session starts. He made me a really cute picture with a verse and his hand prints on it and gave me a potted flower that he had done at daycare. VERY CUTE and of course brought tears to my eyes.

Again Happy Mother's Day. Have a great week and I sure hope that our penguins win!!!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

What a busy week it has been! I can't believe that it is May already! Time sure does fly when you have children! Bradyn had a good week until Friday. I got a call from his daycare DIRECTOR at about 10:30 Friday morning at work saying that Bradyn had BITTEN another child AGAIN! Oh my what distress my 2 year is causing me (What am I going to do when he turns 16 :) She at then time thought he had broken the skin so she told me she needed to call the other parent. It had been 4 weeks to the day that he has bitten! It's always on a Friday that he does it. It was his best little buddy again. They were fighting over a toy and my child pinned the other on the floor and bit his belly. She out Bradyn in time out and had a heart to heart talk with him and the child that had been bitten kept saying- "it's ok Bradyn it's ok!" NO it's NOT OK!!!! Turns out he didn't break the skin just scraped it with his teeth but still bad. Thank goodness the other mom was ok with it and is very understanding that kids go through this. The director told me that these 2 are inseparable so not sure why Bradyn is biting his best friend! I pray that he outgrows it soon. I told her that his teacher needs to separate them when they are arguing so that Bradyn doesn't do it again- she needs to keep a much closer eye on him.

Other than that Bradyn is doing well. He and I went shopping a little today and he loves to shop with Mommy. We have to go grocery shopping later which I hate! It is a beautiful day here so we need to play outside a little.